The Houston Texans took 21-year old cornerback Brandon Harris out of Miami (FL) with the 60th overall pick (2nd round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Harris is 5’11″, 195 pounds and he runs a 4.4 40, so he measures out well.  He is a good corner for run support and he makes a lot of plays on the ball (but he doesn’t catch many of them).  Harris played in 13 games (all starts) at Miami (FL) last year and he had 44 tackles, broke up 10 passes, had 1 interception and he forced 2 fumbles.  He played in 39 games (32 starts) in his three years with the Hurricanes and he had 132 tackles, broke up 28 passes, had 4 interceptions and he forced 5 fumbles.  Harris fills a big need for the Texans and they got value with this pick as they thought he would be long gone by #60.

The Houston Texans have selected 24-year old OLB Brooks Reed out of Arizona with the 42nd overall pick (2nd round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Reed is 6’2″, 255 pounds and he runs a 4.85 40, so he’s a pretty good athlete.  He played in 13 games (all starts) for Arizona last year and he had 47 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks and he broke up 2 passes.  Reed played in 43 games (34 starts) in his four years at Arizona and he had 114 tackles, 25 tackles for a loss, 17 sacks and he broke up 5 passes.  Reed plays hard all of the time but it seems like the Texans reached quite a bit here for a need as no one had him projected to go this high.

The Houston Texans have selected 22-year old DE J.J. Watt out of  Wisconsin with the 11th overall pick in the first round of the NFL Draft last night.  Watt is 6’6″, 290 pounds and he runs a 4.85 40, so he a good and big athlete.  Watt plays with a terrific burn as a player as he always seems to be really fired up.  He lives in opposing backfields and that’s exactly what the Texans need.  Watt played in 13 games (all starts) for Wisconsin last year and he had 62 tackles, 21 tackles for a loss, 7 sacks, he batted down 8 balls, forced 3 fumbles and he recovered 2 fumbles.  Watt played in 26 games (all starts) in his two years with the Badgers and he had 106 tackles, 36.5 tackles for a loss, 11.5 sacks, he batted down 13 passes, forced 3 fumbles and he recovered 4 fumbles.  Watt gives the Texans a nice bookend of DEs with Mario Williams on the other side.  I really like this pick.

The Houston Texans are going to be thinking defense in next weekend’s NFL Draft.  I think they are going to be really happy by the end of the draft as this is how I see them doing in my mock draft:

1st round (#11 overall) – Prince Amukamara, CB, Nebraska

2nd round (#42 overall) – Stephen Paea, DT, Oregon State

3rd round (#73 overall) – Chris Conte, FS, California

4th round (#105 overall) – Marcus Gilchrist, CB, Clemson

5th round (#138 overall) – Mark Herzlick, OLB, Boston College

6th round (#178 overall) – Josh Davis, OT, Georgia

7th round (#214 overall) – Zane Taylor, C, Utah

7th round (#254 overall) – Trevor Vittatoe, QB, UTEP

I think Texans’ GM Rick Smith will  have to be held back so he doesn’t keep yelling “Yahtzee” in this draft as the Texans will likely be cleaning up in this draft.